ABSTRACT

The court can treat the preliminary hearing as a final hearing if all the parties agree (r 27.6(4)) and if there is time.

If a party indicates on their allocation questionnaire14 that they intend to apply for summary judgment and/or an order to strike out the other party’s statement of case, the court may well order that this matter be decided at a preliminary hearing and if the parties agree to this, the preliminary hearing can be treated as the final hearing.